Pixels, or “picture elements,” are the basic light- or color-detection and display elements that form a digital image. Typical digital video and imaging systems use a collection of detector pixels to capture a two-dimensional image field at a capture end (such as a camera) and another corresponding collection of display pixels to display the corresponding two-dimensional image at a display end (such as a monitor). In digital imaging systems, an array of light-sensitive pixels, each including a light sensor or detector, respond to an intensity of incident light at each pixel location, providing an electrical output representative of the incident light. The output of an imager can be referred to as an image.
Motion or video cameras repeat the process described above, but permit a time-sequence to be captured, for example at regular intervals, so that the captured images can be replayed to recreate a dynamic scene or sequence.
Most film and digital pixel imagers include wavelength-specific sensors or detectors. The chemical composition of the film or the design of the digital pixels and associated filters determines the range of wavelengths of light to which the film or pixels respond. Practically, a detector or imager has a frequency response that is optimized to provide images of light in the range of wavelengths the imager is designed for. The most common examples are sensitive to visible light (e.g., red, green, blue, and combinations thereof). Visible light corresponds to the range of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation to which our eyes are sensitive, and is generally in the range of 400 to 750 nanometers (nm).
Special film and digital pixel imagers are designed for low-light operation to provide night vision capability for military, security, or other special applications in which an illumination source is not available to cause a visible light image. Low-light or night vision imagers rely on detecting and imaging frequencies below (wavelengths longer than) the visible (red) wavelengths, and are sometimes called infra-red (IR) detectors. IR detection is more suited for picking up heat emissions from objects such as a person's body or a vehicle. IR radiation itself can be roughly divided into sub-spectra including the near-infra-red (NIR) having wavelengths between about 750 to 1100 nm, short-wave-infra-red (SWIR) having wavelengths between about 1100 and 2500 nm, medium-wave-infra-red (MWIR) having wavelengths between about 2500 and 8000 nm, and long-wave-infra-red (LWIR) having wavelengths between about 8000 and 12000 nm. These ranges are defined somewhat arbitrarily, and are given merely for simplifying the following discussion, and those skilled in the art will appreciate the generality of the discussion as it relates to the bands of wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Present visible light imaging cameras have used silicon devices made with CID, CCD, or CMOS APS architectures. The low cost and efficient collection of photons from 400-750 nm wavelengths has enabled silicon devices. Extending the use of silicon imagers into the near infrared (NIR) band requires a greater volume of material to detect these wavelengths because of silicon's relatively low absorption coefficient in this wavelength range. This increases the size of the detectors and causes increased leakage current and requires expensive manufacturing processes or higher voltages to operate. The use of thick silicon substrates also limits the ability to integrate other devices.
Present low-light or night vision IR imagers are usually less sensitive than would be desired, lack color definition, and have limited frequency response. Also, low-light imagers can be more costly, noisy, and require greater circuit resources than visible light imagers to achieve useful gains in low-signal conditions. Furthermore, IR sensors are larger than would be desired for compact portable applications because most IR sensitive materials must be cooled significantly to achieve good performance. Most sensors that can detect long-wavelength portions of the electromagnetic spectrum remain poor at detecting visible light, especially in the short-wavelength portions of the spectrum, for example blue and violet light.
One presently-available solution is a stacked detector, as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 6,111,300 to Cao, et al. However, this detector fails to adequately capture radiation in a range suitable for some applications with sufficient sensitivity. In addition, present systems do not generally provide for efficient cost and space-efficient readout circuitry for use with stacked detector elements. Also, such systems lack the flexibility in their design to selectively optimize the detectors for a variety of uses under corresponding conditions.
In summary, present imaging sensors and pixels do not sufficiently capture the full range of wavelengths useful for developing good images across long and short wavelength portions of the spectrum, and improved detector designs and readout circuit integration is needed for such detectors.